Mors In Pax
by Pizza Squerel
Summary: Kaleb has been abused by his fellow soldiers ever since he joined the army... and there's only one thing that keeps him sane. but not for long. oneshot short story r&r! this was for a history assignment


**Hiya ppl!! long time i havnt written a story... O.o now audrey can stop killing me... *looks nevously across the street* eek! ok so this is a story we had to write for history class so its historical fiction. enjoy :D**

"Get up, you moron!"

As usual, I was getting shaken awake by "General" Marc, even though he had no authority to do that. He wasn't even a general; he was a soldier, just like the rest of us.

I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my eyes. The cold, damp ground had been too uncomfortable to sleep on, and the snow had soaked through my mattress, which was nothing but two bed sheets stuffed with cotton. "Dang, Marc! Why do you always wake me up?" I looked around, but I would have thought myself blind if not for the bonfire.

"Come on, get up! We have to march to Bunker Hill before sunrise, so we don't have much time!" Marc yelled, "GET UP NOW!"

"Fine, fine." I replied. I got up, went to the creek, which was a hundred feet away, dipped my head in, and drank some of the delicious mountain water. _Haven't tasted such good water in a while..._ I thought. Apparently I had mused that thought too long because the next thing I knew I was surrounded by freezing water.

Marc snickered. "Listen, Kaleb, you applied to join the army. Now you're in it, so you have to do what we tell you."

"Sure, like you have any authority over me! We're both soldiers, just like the others, and there's only one general, and that's not you!" I retorted, but at that moment my age flew out of my head.

"Look at you, and look at me and the rest," he laughed, grabbing my hair and forcing me to look at the camp. "We're all older, including me, so i DO have authority." He let go of my hair and my face fell on the sharp rocks, giving me a few nasty gashes. In the background, I heard some muffled laughs from everyone but Alex.

She was a sly one, Alex was. She was a lot like me: 13 years of age, dark haired, quiet around others, independent; we were almost twins except for the fact that she was a girl and she had run away from her home and joined the army and I had lost all my family to the Lobster backs.

Which is why I was the only one who knew her secret: that she was a girl. When she ran away from her home because of her family, which treated her the same way the soldiers treated me, she thought the army would be a great choice: they'd never find her. But she had to disguise herself as a boy, and I've never seen a better actress in my life.

When I (and the rest of the "not as lazy as Kaleb" soldiers) were finally dressed, we marched up to Bunker Hill. And of all the places we had to pass, it was my old house, a cabin in the middle of the woods, burnt down by some Lobster backs.

And suddenly I became more depressed then I was when I just woke up. This was the sight of where I had lost my family, and I was the only one who survived because of my selfishness.

"Those idiots chose this route on purpose. Morons."

I turned my head and saw the silhouette of Alex walking next to me. I nodded. "Yeah, I suspected that." I walked closer to her until we touched shoulders; she was the only reason I was still sane then.

"It's weird how they torture you just because you're thirteen…" Alex said, "Maybe next time you should just lie about your age like I did."

I raised a brow. "There won't BE a next time, Alex. After this war's over, I vow that if I make out of this alive I will never join the army again."

The sun had started to rise, but it still was not bright enough to see too far in front of you. Usually sunrises cheered me up for some reason, but not today. I had a very grim feeling about the next few hours.

We marched for at least thirty more minutes, and then we saw the fort on either Breed's or Bunker Hill, I'm still not sure to this day. And then, just out of the blue…

A shot fired, disturbing the peace, quiet, and anxiety of our group. The anxiety had decreased somewhat, but not completely. Men were running around, confused, getting shot at like the moving targets they were. Sooner or later the turkey shoot was turned into a real battle, with musket balls flying left and right.

And that's when I begun to worry. Every time we were fighting, the other men tried to push me into the line of a fired musket ball. Once a guy even yelled out, "Ey, you Lobster backs! Shoot this kid 'ere!" He was expelled from the army the next day, but if he hadn't opened his mouth my death would have come sooner. But honestly, at that time I wanted to die, but with honor, not just for nothing (although at times I was ready to hang myself on a tree). The guys never treated me as one of them, and I was pretty much like their rag doll to beat up. When Alex came into our troop, though, my suicidal feelings left.

Chaos was replacing confusion, and suddenly it seamed a cannon had gone off there were so many shots. I saw some of our men and Lobster backs falling down from the shots. I didn't care about any of them until I saw Alex, half way up the hill.

Despite her injured state (she had, from the looks of it, gotten shot in the thigh and shoulder near the artery), she tried to get up to the fort. Alex got up painfully, and started to aim for the Lobster back which had shot her.

"ALEX, NO STOP!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I ran towards her.

Too late. She had fired but missed, bringing attention to the Lobster back. I was getting closer to her. _Alex has got to get out of this battle, she's in too much pain to fight! _I thought as she collapsed. The Lobster back was about to shoot her, but I shot at his arm and the ball hit the target.

While the Lobster back collapsed from the impact of the pain, I grabbed Alex and ran away as fast as I could. I knew that sooner or late the enemy would get back up and shoot at us.

I thought that the shot would have bought us more time that it actually did. When the Lobster back got up, I couldn't see, but the shouts I heard told me everything.

I tried to run faster that I could with Alex on my shoulder. I heard a shot and dived behind a tree, missing the ball by a few inches. I set Alex down.

"You… you didn't have to do that…" she muttered painfully, trying to get back up, "they probably figured out I'm a girl now… but thanks…"

"Welcome. Listen, you can't go out there and fight anymore, at least not for now!" I whispered worriedly, pushing her back down gently. She didn't fight back, which meant she must have been in more pain than I thought. I tore off my sleeves, ripped them, and bandaged them around her deep wounds.

Just as I finished tying them, I heard shots getting closer behind me. "KALEB, LOBSTER BACK BEHIND YOU!" I heard someone shout. I turned around and saw the same enemy I shot at, aiming right at Alex's heart. Then two things happened in unison.

The Lobster back pulled the trigger. I watched as the musket ball was shot, coming right at Alex. I don't know what happened to me at that moment, but I suddenly jumped in the ball line.

And then it hit me, stabbing me right in the heart like a hundred knives. I felt my mouth open, but no sound, as I fell onto something or someone behind me.

That instant I felt somewhat relived: I had sacrificed myself to let someone I loved live, unlike the last time.

I had fallen with honor and peace.


End file.
